The University has become too specialized, increasingly focused on faculty grantsmanship, and more than ever in thrall to corporate sources of fiscal support. Accompanying this privatization, we behold the meta-static spread of administration, which tends not to facilitate community but to intensify feelings of isolation and alienation. We need to admit these things and address them.Continue...

Some would say the root of Donald Trump and Rosie O’Donnell’s extremely public beefing is a yearning for publicity or celebrity-induced mental instability. Others would say that it all comes down to birth order.Continue...

Morgan Vanek is alarmed that she will be completing her undergraduate degree in English, with a minor in development studies, in less than two months. She’s excited by the sudden new interest in prose on the Queen’s creative writing scene, too, because she thinks that poems—for all their poignant brevity—have been stumping student writers for far too long now. Her work is forthcoming in Lake Effect 3 .Continue...

Nicholas Henneberry is a fourth-year engineering student doing a minor in English. Growing up as a military kid, he doesn’t really have a hometown, but his family is currently based out of Belgium. Though not autobiographical, the main character in “The Short Visit” and other background details are based on Nicholas’ own experiences, including research he did drinking scotch with beer chasers. This is Nicholas’ first time being published, though his writing is forthcoming in the Undergraduate Review .Continue...

Justin Vessair is a fourth-year English major and is hoping to continue his writing at the University of Toronto through a master’s in creative writing. He hails from the small town of Honey Harbour, Ont., and is launching a website to showcase his work at islandsintheair.com. Justin came up with the idea for “The Fall of Icarus” after viewing the painting of the same name by Pieter Brueghel and thinking maybe Icarus needed a better send-off than just a leg sticking out of the water.Continue...

Earth week is only a month away, and I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about the environment and how it impacts human health. I mean, think about it: as human beings, we are totally dependent on the state of our planet. With dirty air, contaminated water, toxic chemicals on our food, and climate change, real threats are being posed to our health and well-being. We’re talking respiratory problems, cancers, infectious disease and chemical poisoning, just to name a few.Continue...